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CHURCHOF GOD
(Continued from page 3)
ally. The world was totally cut off
from God! Moses was further used
in writing the first five books of the
Bible, as God was making available
His revelation of basic KNOWLEDGE.
The Good News Announcement
Then carne Jesus Christ as the Mes–
senger of the Covenant (Mal. 3: 1
and Mark 1:1, 14-15). He brought
an announcement-a message from
God- the good news announcement
of the coming Kingdom of God!
But He did not come on a "soul–
saving crusade." As stated before, of
the thousands who heard Him an–
nounce the coming Kingdom of
God, only 120 BELIEVED what He
said (Acts 1: 15). They formed the
beginning of the Church of God
when they received the Holy Spirit
on the Day of Pentecost, A.D. 31.
That same day God added to them
about three thousand whom He had
specially called (Acts 2:41). Then,
after that, "the Lord ADDED to the
church daily such as should be (at
the resurrection] saved" (verse 47).
The apostles did not get these
people saved- but God added such
as He CALLEO to be saved.
Thus the Church of God started.
lt
started in a world cut off from
God- and comparatively very small.
J esus called it "the li ttle flock"
(Luke 12:32). For a short time it
grew to a few thousand members
God had called and added. Then, in
a short time, the persecution set in
(Acts 8: 1) and the Church was di–
minished in size.
True Church Goes Underground
The true gospel of the Kingdom of
God was suppressed by the false
church raised up by Simon the sor–
cerer (Acts 8) in A.D. 33. In reality it
was the remnant of the Babylonian
Mystery Religion, which appro–
priated the name "Christian" and
deceived the whole world (Rev.
17:2 , 5) . By A.D. 59 even the
churches had turned to another gos–
pel
(O
al. 1:6-7). The true gospel was
suppressed!
The "little flock"-the true
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1978
Church of God- virtually went un–
derground. The gospel had to be
taught secretly. Thousands of true
Christians were tortured and mar–
tyred-put to death by the fast–
growing false Babylonish church.
Ever since then only a compara–
tive few have been called by God to
repentance, belief and spiritual sal–
vation.
Let me make that plain!
In Ephesians 1, Paul addresses his
inspired letter "to the saints which
are at Ephesus, and to the fa ithful
IN Christ Jesus" (verse 1). He is writ–
ing to saints in Christ- not to the
world. When Paul here uses the pro–
noun "us," he means those saints
and includes himself.
He says: "According as he [God)
hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame
before
him
in !ove: Having PRE–
DESTINATED US unto the SONSHIP (as
it should read] of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the
good pleasure of his will" (verses 4-
5).
Predestinated-why? To be lost?
No! To become God's sons- His
own children. The rest of the world,
remember, is cut off from God- has
no access to Him.
He continues: "In whom also we
[not the world) have obtained an
INHERITANCE, being PREDESTINATED
according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own wiU: That we
should be to the praise of bis glory,
who FIRST trusted in Christ" (verses
11- 12).
Notice what that says: We were
predestinated to be the FIRST to
trust in Christ-to receive SALVA–
noN. We were specially CALLEO,
chosen-while the rest of the world
is cut off from God and Christ.
After the second coming of
Christ- after He establishes the
Kingdom of God and the whole
world comes under Christ's rule at
the end Of this DAY OF MAN (this
6,000 years when the world as a
whole is cut off from Christ)- then
EVERYBODY will be called to salva–
tion (Matt. 25:31-40).
But today only the precious pre–
destinated FEW! Jesus plainly said:
"No man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sent me draw
him ..." (John 6:44).
World Cut Off From God
Again get this: understand it! The
world as a whole
is
cut off from all
access to God. God has not been
trying to save the world. God sen–
tenced this world to 6,000 years of
going its own way-forming man's
own governments, his own reli–
gions-aU false - his own knowledge
and systems of education- his own
society going the way of"get" rather
than of "love." Instead of trying to
save this sinning world, God sen–
tenced it to sowing its own ways,
and reaping what it sows- to prove
once and for aU that ONLY God's
way oflove is good for us.
Just look at the result today!
Soon, if God does not step in and
intervene, and take over the rule,
man will destroy himself. For the
first time in history the weapons of
mass destruction are available that
can erase a ll life, including all hu–
manity, from this earth.
J us t before man brings that
about , God will intervene once
again, stopping it by His super–
natural power, and send Christ to
rule with the Kingdom of God over
all nations.
Then Satan will be put away at
last (Rev. 20 :1-4). Christ on His
throne wiU go out to save all who
are willing (Matt. 25:31 ). After a
thousand years of Christ's rule will
come the Great White Throne Judg–
ment- the resurrection back to mor–
tal physical life of all since Adam
(except those God had intervened to
call). That wil l be many billions.
God is NOT trying to save them
NOW-He will THEN.
Finally, at last , everyone will have
been called and had
bis
chance for
salvation and eternal life!
A Dlvlne Master Plan
The Holy Days picture God's MAS–
TER PLAN. The Day of Pentecost is
called the Feast of Firstfruits-j ust
the small FIRST harvest for God's
Kingdom- including us, now. The
Feast of Trumpets pictures the com–
ing of Christ to rule. The Day of
Atonement pictures putting Satan
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